Rotatable receptacle structure



April 15, 1958 J. w. PULASKI ROTATABLE 'RECEPTACLE STRUCTURE 2 SheetsSheet 1 Filed July 23, 1956 FlG.

INVENTOR. JOHN W PULASKI HIS ATTORNEY April 15, 1958 J. w. PULASKI ROTATABLE RECEPTACLE STRUCTURE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 23, 1956 FIG. 4

INVENTOR.

JOHN W. PULASKI 7/ H l5 ATTORNEY nited States 2,830,864 ROTATABLE RECEPTACLE srnncrnnn John W. Pulaski, Louisville, Ky., assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Application July 23, 1956, Serial No. 599,504

3 Claims. (Cl. 312-305) The present invention relates to a rotatable receptacle structure and is more particularly concerned with a rotatable structure for removably mounting and supporting storage receptacles in household refrigerator cabinets.

Refrigerator cabinets of the household type are normally provided with a plurality of storage shelves and one or more receptacles for the storage of vegetables, fresh I foods and the like. When the shelves are rotatably mounted within the cabinet to increase the accessibility of-the contents of the cabinet, it isdesirable also to provide a suitable arrangement for rotatably mounting and I supporting the storage receptacles. It is also desirable that the receptacles can be easily removed for cleaning purposes.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved arrangement for rotatably mounting receptacles in such a manner that they may be readily removed from the rotatable supporting or mounting extending generally outwardly from the shaft and a re movable sector-shaped receptacle disposed between and supported by adjacent arms. To prevent lateral or horizontal displacement of the receptacle from its normal storage position on the adjacent arms, the walls of the receptacle include rim portions overlying the arms and those rim portions and supporting arms include means for holding the receptacle in its normal position. in order to prevent accidental tilting of the receptacles, one of the adjacent arms supporting the receptacle includes means projecting therefrom over the rim of the receptacle.

For a better understanding of the invention reference 1 may be had to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a sectional elevational view of a portion of a refrigerator cabinet embodying the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view partially broken away taken along the lines 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a vertical enlarged view partly broken away showing the details of the mounting arrangement for the receptacles; and

Fig. 4 is a view of an indexing device for the receptacle mounting structure taken along line 44 of Fig. 3.

With reference to Fig. 1 ofthe drawing there is shown a refrigerator cabinet including a food storage compartment 1 and a door 2 for closing' the access opening to the storage compartment. Rotatable storage facilities are provided within the cabinet 1 including a vertically extending shaft 3 on which are mounted a plurality of 2,83,864 Patented Apr. 15, 1958 shelves 4 which are both rotatable around the shaft and are vertically adjustable there along. This shaft and shelf assembly is more completely described and claimed in thecopending application of Frank A. Schumacher, Serial No. 399,387, filed December 21, 1953, now Patent No. 2,813,635, and assigned to the same assignee as the present invention.

The present invention is not concerned with the rotatable shelves as such but is rather concerned with a rotatable structure for removably supporting one or more storage receptacles.

In the illustrated modification of the-invention, these storage receptacles 6 are supported within the compartment 1 by a T-shaped supporting structure 8 including "one arm 9 which normally extends generally perpendicular to the plane of the access opening to the storage compartment closed by the door 2 and a cross member it connected to the forward end of the arm 9. The cross member 10 cooperates with the arm 9 to form a supporting structure comprising a plurality of radially extending arms including the arm 9 and the arms l1 and 12 formed by the opposite ends of the cross member 10.

This spider or T-shaped supporting member 8 is rotatably supported on the shaft 3 at a point near or adjacent the forward end of the arm 9 or more specifically at a point slightly behind the intersection of the arm 9 with the cross member llil.

To provide the desired strength and rigidity, the hub portion .of the arm 9 which receives the shaft 3 has a vertical dimension such that it encompasses or encloses enough of the shaft to prevent any substantial tilting of the supporting frame in the event that the receptacles mounted'thereon are unevenly loaded.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawing, this hub section does not threadably engage the shaft but is rather freely rotatable thereon. The supporting frame or structure 8 rests on a nylon collar 13 which is fixed to the shaft 3 by means of a pin 14 as shown in Fig. 3. Means for positioning the T-shaped supporting structure 8 within the compartment 1 comprises indexing means including a flattened surface portion 15 on the rear side of the collar 13 and a detent member 17 slidably supported on the bottom portion of the arm 9 and urged into engagement with the surface of the collar 13 by means of a spring 13. This detent member has a flat forward end portion 16 which engages the flattened surface portion 15 on the collar 13 to index the supporting frame 8 in its normal position within the compartment 3 with the cross member ill extending across the access opening to the compartment. The biasing action of the spring 18 is such however that pressure applied to either of the arms 11 or 12 adjacent the extremities thereof willcause the supporting frame to rotate about the shaft 3 bringing one or the other of the two receptacles 6 into a more accessible position outwardly of the compartment 1. This movement of a receptacle out of the compartment is made possible by the fact that the frame 3 is supported adjacent the front thereof by the shaft 3 which in turn is positioned close to the front of the compartment 3.

in order to removably support the receptacles 6 on the supporting frame or structure 8 there is provided along the rear edge of the cross member it; or more specifically the rear edges of the two arms 11 and 12 upwardly extending flanges i9, while similar upwardly extending flanges 21 are provided along the sides of the rearwardly extending arm 9. The flanges on the adjacent arms are adapted to be engaged by downwardly turned rim portions 22 provided on the straight sides 23 and 24 of each of the receptacles 6, the engagement of the downwardly extending rim portions provided on the straight sides of the receptacle 6 and the ledge portions 19 on the cross member 10 and the arm 9 preventing lateral or horizontal displacement of the receptacles 6 from their supported position upon rotation of the supporting frame 8.

If necessary the side 23 of the receptacle 6 adjacent the arm 9 may be slanted siightly adjacent the forward edge thereof as indicated by the numeral 25 to clear the shaft 3 at this point.

in order to prevent tilting of the receptacle 6 upon the uneven loading thereof as for example when rel heavy foodstuffs are placed adjacent t arcuate outer wall 27 of the receptacle there .1 on one of the two adjacent arms supporting the receptacle a projectingmember 29 extending outwardly over the rim of the receptacle 6 in its supported position. This projection 29 which is positioned closer to the it c; intersection of the side walls 23 and than to tl arc.. wall 27 of the sector-shaped receptacles is adapted to engage the adjacent rim portion of the receptacle upon any tilting action thereof before the adjacent downwardly turned rim portions 22 become disengaged from the u p wardly extending flanges on the supporting arms. As shown in the drawing this projection 29 is provided on each of the arms 11 and 12 to maintain the forward rim portions 22 in engagement with the upwardly extending flanges 1; provided on these arms.

in order to reduce the air circulation through the receptacle 6 when they are positioned'in their normal position within the compartment 1 and thereby to provide relatively hign humidity conditions within the receptacles, there is provided a cover 33 extending horizontally across the compartment 1 immediately above'the receptacle 6 and supported in this position by the shaft 3. This cover is preferably made of glass or other transparent material so as to facilitate visual inspection of the contents of the receptacles. One or more brackets 31 may also be provided on the walls of the compartment 1 to support the edges of this cover 30.

The advantages of the rotatable receptacle structure of the pr sent invention will become more apparent from the consideration of the manner in which the removable receptacles 6 can be disengaged or removed from the supporting structure 8. In order to remove either receptacle it is necessary only to rotate the supporting frame 8 from its normal position within the compartment It to a position at right angle to its normal position or in other words that in which one of the receptacles 6 extends forwardly from the access opening to the compartment it. In this position the receptacle substantially clears the cover 39. The pan or receptacle 6 is then grasped at a point on the arcuate wall 27 and is tilted slightly upwardly about an axis passing through the flange 19 of the cross member 1% until the receptacle flange resting on the arm 9 is disengaged from the upwardly extending flange 21. in order that this may be accomplished the flanges 22 and both of the sides 23 and 24 preferably extend only along the mid section of these sides or in other words terminate short of the point of intersection of these two sides 23 and 24. Thereafter the pan is slid forwardly in a plane parallel to the cross member 10 until the side 24- of the pan is free of the projection 29. At this point the pan can be lifted upwardly and removed from the supporting structure 8. To replace the pan or receptacle 6, the above steps are carried out in reverse order. During the replacement process the downwardly turned rim portion 22 on side 24 and the upwardly extending flange 19 cooperate to guide the receptacle into position where a slight tilting thereof causes the downwardly turned rim on the side 23 to pass over and into engagement with the flange 21.

While there has been disclosed a specific embodiment of the present invention it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the particular construction illustrated and it is intended by the appended claims to cover all modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

Fn a refrigerator having a food storage compartment, a rotatable receptacle structure comprising a vertically extending shaft, a supporting structure rotatably mounted on said shaft, said supporting structure comity of radially extending arms, a receptacle .vardly turned rim portions on two sides tncreot ovedying and supported by adjacent arms with one corner of said receptacle disposed adjacent the point of intersection of said arms, said adjacent arms including 3' extending flanges engaged by said rim portions 2 horizontal displacement of said receptacle relante to said supporting structure and a projection on one of said adjacent arms overlying the rim of said receptacle adjacent said corner thereof to prevent tilting of said receptacle.

2. In a refrigerator having a food storage compartment, a rotatable receptacle structure comprising a vertically extending shaft, a supporting structure rotatably mounted on said shaft, said supporting structure comprising a plurality of radially extending arms, a sectorshaped receptacle having downwardly turned rim portions on two sides thereof overlying and supported by adjacent arms with one corner of said receptacle disposed adjacent the point of intersection of said arms, said adjacent arms including upwardly extending flanges engaged by said rim portions to prevent horizontal displacement of said receptacle relative to said supporting structure and a projection on one of said adjacent arms overlying one of said rim portions of said receptacle adjacent said corner thereof to prevent tipping of said receptacle, said downwardly turned rim portions terminating short of said one corner of said receptacle whereby said receptacle can be removed from said arms by tilting said receptacle about an axis passing through said one of said rim portions to disengage the other of said rim portions from its supporting arm and thereafter moving said receptacle along a line parallel to said one of said rim portions to clear said projection.

3. In a refrigerator having a food storage compartment, a rotatable receptacle structure comprising a vertically extending shaft, a supporting structure rotatably mounted on said shaft, an annular collar on said shaft supporting'said structure, said supporting structure comprising a plurality of radially extending arms two of which normally extend across the access opening to said compartment, a sector-shaped receptacle having downwardly turned rim portions on two sides thereof overlying and supported by adjacent arms with one corner of said receptacle disposed adjacent the point of intersection of said arms, said adjacent arms including upwardly extending flanges engaged by said rim portions to prevent horizontal displacement of said receptacle relative to said supporting structure, means on one of said adjacent arms overlying one of said rim portions of said receptacle adjacent said corner thereof to prevent tipping of said receptacle, said downwardly turned rim portions terminating short of said one corner of said receptacle, and means for indexing said structure comprising a flat surface on said collar and a detent on one of said arms engaging said flat surface when said supporting structure is in its normal position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,605,160 Boody July 29, 1952 2,746,830 Fonda et a1. May 22, 1956 2,763,526 Falek Sept. 18, 1956 

